It’s been a full week and my novel has started the editing and revision process! As of last Thursday my Assemblage of Awesome coalesced into a final roster of nine alpha and beta readers. Although the week before last I was talking about sending the story out to readers in “blocks” of three or four chapters each, I ultimately decided to use a cycle of three parts instead.

These sections are the three acts of the book. This will give each reader a thematically whole component each time, and will result is less “moving parts” as the edits start to roll between betas.

I got to write some second drafts this week as well! My Sunday was spent revising and editing when I received the first four chapters back from Kim. These are now in the hands of my second alpha reader. If the upcoming week plays out like the last, I should get the second half of the first act revised and off to the next reader much like the first.

Also on Sunday, I put some final edits into my story Ounta and sent it along to Ben Van Dongen to start his “Fifth Monday” chain-serial. You can read it right now on Adventure Worlds! Later this month, I’ll be sharing it on my own story blog, Aethereal Engines.

Outside of writing and editing, major progress was made on my efforts to indie publish Vivian’s Last Cigarette: I secured a cover artist for the book! Working off a short list of artists that I wanted to consult about the possibility of cover commissions, I’m excited to announce that my top pick has agreed to do one! I’m not going to drop names yet, but she’s a professional artist gifted with a wide ranging talent for both dramatic and humorous work.

In addition, she has lots of experience illustrating fantasy using a demonstrated tone and skill that make her ideally suited for my book. We’ve exchanged a couple of emails so far, and I’m already eager to collaborate with them. I’ve got a good feeling going forward, and think I’ve found an artist uniquely matched to create the cover for my tale of teenage orcs finding love amid punk rock, D&D, and a 1989 that never was. ;-)

All in all, a good first week of getting the edits started and putting plans into motion to support the book. I honestly thought I’d be hunting for artists a lot longer than a week, but I’m grateful for this turn of good fortune. Super excited too! Having that groundwork laid will open more windows of time for me to edit the book, and also to focus on other aspects of creating and marketing it.

I may even find some time to write a little on other projects! I’ve got an Exerverse short story I’ve wanted to do for over a year, so that might be something to find myself writing on breaks at work. The Unicorn Hunters may get some attention as a side weekend project between editing new drafts of Vivian’s too. As a novelette in need of revision and a new opening chapter, I want to give it more time and focus than I can find outside of my study.

Much to do. :-) But it’s always better to be busy than bored!

Alright, time for me to stop blogging and get back to writing some more fiction! Take care!